Gate-fastener



PATENTED FEB. 16, 1904. G. S. FRANCIS & B..B. RYAN.

GATE FASTENER.

' APPLICATION FILED MAY 20, 1903.

N0 MODEL.

UNITED STATE Patented February 16, 1904.

PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE S. FRANCIS AND BERNARD B. RYAN, OF HAVRE, MONTANA.

GATE-FASTENER- SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent 3T0. 752,217, ated February 16, 1904.

Application filed May 20, 1903. Elerial No. 158,015. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, GEORGE S. FRANCIS and BERNARD B. RYAN, citizens ofthe United States, residing at Havre, in the county of Ghoteau and State of Montana, have invented a new and useful Gate-Fastener, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in gates for wire fences, which are formed frameless and stretched by the action of latching.

The object of the invention is to simplify and improve devices of this character and to increase the efficiency and cheapen the construction.

7 Further objects and advantages of this invention will appear in the following description, and the novel features thereof will be particularly pointed out in the appended claims, it being understood that various changes in the form, proportion, and the minorv details of construction may be resorted to without departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of this invention.

Figure 1 of the accompanying drawings represents a side view of a gate and sections of the fence at either side withthe improvement applied. Fig. 2 is an enlarged side view of one section of the improved cap with the lockbar extending therethrough. Fig. 3 represents an enlarged view of the eyebolt forming the securingmeans for one end ofthe gatestile. Fig. 4 represents a transverse section of the cap on the line 4 4 of Fig. 2.

The improved device is employed upon what are known as flexible or frameless gates erected in wire fences,.which are formed by connecting the ends of the line-wires toa vertical stile adjacent to one of the permanent fence-posts and coupling the stile to the post to close the gate. To open the gate, it is only necessary to release the stile and fold the panel of fencing between the stile and the next post back out of the way. This makes a very simple, cheap, and easily-constructed gate, and to provide such a gate, with the means for readily securing the stile, with its connected wire strands, to the gate-post is the principal object of the present invention.

The device may be connected to any of the various forms of wire fencing in common use,

10 11 and with the terminals connected in the same manner to a vertical stile i i, the stile being disposed in close proximity to the post 11 when the gate is closed, as shown. The stile 14 is surmounted by a metal cap formed in two hollow sections 15 16, divided longitudinally and connected, as by bolts 17 18, the abutting edgesof the sections overlapping, as shown in Fig. 4, to assist in uniting them and prevent lateral displacement. The cap member will be secured over the end of the stile 14., as by screws 19 or by other suitable means, and the half-sections will be provided with recesses which coincide when the parts are united and form atransverse aperture 20, as indicated. Within each half-section of the cap member are formed vertical recesses, which when the sections are united form a vertical cavity 21, intersecting the transverse aperture 20, and an elongated aperture 22 leads outward through the adjacent wall of the cap member. Vwithin this cavity 21 a latch-bolt 23 is disposed, with its lower end inclined at one side and supported yieldably in its projected position by a spring at, as shown in Fig. 2. The bolt 23 is provided with an operating-button 25, extending through the aperture 22, whereby the bolt may be withdrawn from the exterior of the cap.

Attached to the post 10 opposite the transverse aperture 20 in the cap member is an eyebolt 26, with which a lock-bar 27 is movably connected, as shown, the lock-bar conforming in cross-section substantially with the aperture 20 and adapted to slide through it and provided with spaced inclined teeth 28,

forming a ratchet-bar adapted to be engaged bolt and bar retain their interlocked position. It is also obvious that any slack which may occur at any time may be taken up by simply forcing the stile nearer the post 11.

To releasethe gate, it is only necessary to elevate the bolt 23 by its actuating-button 25, when the stile and gate can be folded back as far as may be necessary to permit the passage of the person or team and the gate again quickly closed and the strands stretched until the gate is as secure as any other portion of the fence.

In the post 11 at a point remote'from the ratchet-bar is a loop 29, having a screw-stud 30, adapted to be inserted into the post, the loop being intended as a step for the lower end of the stile, as shown. The loop 29 will be so located relative to the post and stile that when the stile is inserted in it and the cap member forced over the bar 27 the loop will cause the lower strands 12 of the gate portion to be stretched as tightly as the upper strands, and in event of any slack occurring it may be readily taken up by giving the loop a few turns in the post, which will cause its screwstud 26 to work farther into the post. The screw-eye 26 may also be adjusted in the same manner to adjust the bar 27 if required. By this means the tension of the gate may be Very easily controlled and maintained at any desired degree.

The cap-sections, the bar, and its eyebolt, together with the loop and its screw-stud, will preferably be of malleable iron, but may be of other metal, if preferred, while the stile 14 may be of wood or metal, as preferred. If the stile is of wood,the cap member will generally be cylindrical in cross-section, but may be modified to any required degree to adapt it to the form of material employed for the stile. The other parts may likewise be modified in minor particulars without departing from the principle of the invention or sacrificing any of its advantages.

Having thus described the invention, what we claim is 1. Aflexible gate formed with a rigid stile having a cap at one end, said cap having a transverse aperture extending therethrough,

a longitudinally disposed latch bolt carried by said cap, in combination with a ratchetbar movably connected to an adjacent fencepost and adapted to pass through said cap-aperture with its teeth engaged by said latch-bolt.

2. A gate formed with a vertical stile at its free end, a cap upon said stile provided with a transverse aperture, and a spring-controlled latch projecting into said aperture, in combination with an adjacent fence-post having an eyebolt extending therefrom, a lock-bar movably connected to said eyebolt and provided with spaced notches and adapted to be passed through the aperture in said cap with its notches in engagement with said latch, substantially as described.

3. A gate formed with avertical stile at its free end, a cap formed in two parts longitudinally divided and secured upon opposite sides of said stile at one end thereof and provided with a transverse aperture between the parts, a lock-bar having spaced notches and movably connected to the adjacent post of the fence and adapted to slide in said aperture, and a spring-actuated latch within said cap adapted to engage said notches, substantially as described.

4:. A gate having a stile at the free end provided with an end cap formed in two longitudinally-divided sections adapted to be detachably connected and having a halfsocket and one portion of 'a transverse aperture in each section, and provided with onehalf of a latch-cavity in each section intersecting said transverse aperture, a latch slidably disposed in said latch-cavity and yieldably maintained with its operative end extending into said transverse aperture and operable from the exterior of the cap, in combination with a lock-bar having spaced notches and means for connection to the fence-post adjacent to the gateway-opening, saidbar being adapted to be inserted through said aperture with its notches in engagement with said latch, substantially as described.

In testimony that'we claim the foregoing as our own we have hereto aflixed our signatures in the presence of two witnesses.

GEORGE S. FRANCIS. BERNARD B. RYAN. Witnesses:

P. J. MOINTYRE, DAMAS BRUNEAU. 

